Memory Bulbs--TOW

<x-flowed>Dear All,
The topic of the week this week is memory bulbs. This was a suggestion from
Judy Glattstein. She can elaborate more on what she means by this, but my
understanding is that this is an opportunity to talk about bulbs that are
special to you because of the memory associated with them. Maybe they came
from a friend or were acquired or associated with a trip or a famous person
or some event in your life. You are all lucky that this is a busy week for
me because this is a subject that I could really run with as so many of the
bulbs I grow have such associations. I shall try to restrain myself and
limit myself to a post a day. I hope a lot of you will participate in this
topic even if just to tell us about one or two such bulbs.
I'll start out with the Michael Vassar Oxalis. Michael collected these
bulbs in South Africa and then gave them an accession number, MV#... He
grew them in an ever expanding collection in Southern California and one
year gave a lot of them to IBS to be sold as a fund raiser. You could
purchase a whole collection for more than $100. Mike Mace's wife bought him
one of the collections as a present. Some of us who thought of Oxalis as a
potential pest began to have second thoughts when Mike, Andrew Wilson,
Diana Chapman, and Gary Buckley started raving about these wonderful
plants. In later years when Mike had extras he shared some with the IBS BX
and with me and I have tried to follow his lead in sharing mine. I was
lucky enough to hear Michael Vassar lecture on Oxalis twice so in addition
to loving these plants for their own sake I have the memory of this gentle
quiet man who became so enthusiastic when talking about his
favorites, Oxalis and Pelargonium. Of all the ones I grow I think the
obtusas are my favorites for their long bloom and bright colors, but there
is a MV luteola that I especially like and a MV Oxalis comosa that I
acquired at the IBS auction in 2002 donated by Mike that was gorgeous last
winter when it was in bloom.
So Oxalis MVs get my vote for today and the memory goes beyond Michael
Vassar to include Mike Mace who generously shared his collection and to
Diana, Andrew, and Gary for providing the extra enthusiasm that made me
want to try these. Oxalis now brings me pleasure for much of the year.
Mary Sue
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